Amazon Likely to Announce New Devices Very Soon

Recent history suggests that Amazon is likely to announce new products soon, and it could happen as early as this upcoming week.

Looking back at the past few years, Amazon has announced new Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets in the month of September. Last year they unveiled their lineup of new devices on September 17th.

The year before, news dropped about the Paperwhite 2 in early September and the new Fire tablets were announced on September 25th.

Going back to 2012, new Kindle ereaders and Fire tables were announced the first week of September.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Amazon is most likely getting set to unveil their new lineup of devices for 2015 in the next week or two.

Signs are already pointing to an imminent announcement. Every year before a release becomes official, detailed rumors crop up online about the upcoming new devices.

This year is no different. WSJ is reporting that Amazon is going to be releasing a $50 Fire tablet, similar to the 6-inch version they offer now but with some cutbacks on hardware.

Amazon is also expected to release new 8-inch and 10-inch tablets, according to the report. That would be a change from the 7-inch and 8.9-inch sizes that are currently offered.

The article also references some other projects that Amazon is working on, such as a tablet with a 3D screen and an ebook reader battery that can last two year per charge—don’t expect those anytime soon, though.

A $50 Fire tablet makes a lot of sense for Amazon since their tablets are strongly geared toward selling content and products from Amazon. A lot of low-end tablets have been selling for around $50 for awhile now, so Amazon might as well capitalize on the lower end of the tablet market too, especially since the high-end market is so competitive with the iPad in strong control.

As far as Kindle ereaders are concerned, the article doesn’t mention any new models specifically but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a new Kindle or two. Amazon just released a new updated Kindle Paperwhite 3 a couple months ago, so that’s not going anywhere, but there’s a chance the Kindle Voyage and/or the entry-level Kindle could be updated.

9 Responses to “Amazon Likely to Announce New Devices Very Soon”

Considering how Amazon badly undercut the Kindle Voyage with the PW3, it’s inevitable that a new KV2 will be released. The Voyage isnt selling at all. The reviews have been stuck at 6,000 since April. The only literal way is to sell a Voyage now is to increase size and provide an authentic book style cover, not origami.

You’re right. The low number of reviews for the Voyage and its standing (or lack of) in Amazon’s best sellers list definitely indicates that it isn’t selling well. The PW3 has almost as many reviews in just a couple of months. The problem with that is Amazon just might decide to drop the Voyage entirely like they did the Kindle DX. Slowly let it wither on the vine for another year or two as they sell off the remaining stock. I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon just decides to release a new entry-level Kindle and keep the Voyage around as is for another cycle. The way I see it is they have less incentive to release a new one if the first one didn’t sell well (mostly the high price is the problem when you can buy a nice 10-inch tablet like the Lenovo Tab 2 10 for less).

Considering the new basic Kobo remained stuck at 167ppi, i dont see their being as big incentive for Amazon to push out a new basic like the way they hurried for a 300ppi in June with the release of the Kobo Glo HD. Their basic kindle already has the same features as the new kobo basic.
Amazon however, must continue to innovate and provide options or become vulnerable and ripe to be trageted by ambitious companies trying to take advantage of their complacency.
At this point a larger ereader is an absolute must. I dont see how they will just settle on two 6″ ereaders as your only options.

I would like to hope the will bring to market a 8 inch eink android tablet. I like reading books and watching TV in grayscale mode on my note 4. Eyes still strain but not as much with color. Hopefully regal eink screens and the i.mx7 are the refresh speeds we have been looking for. I may look into gunnar glasses, if Nathan can do a review on those that would be awesome.

I’ve seen those glasses on display before but I totally forgot about them. They would be cool to review to see what kind of difference they make when reading digital text, but they’re pretty pricey and I just bought a new pair of glasses last month.